1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems. Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of portable computers. More specifically, the present invention discloses a method and apparatus for indicating information to a user using illuminatable buttons or keys.
2. Related Art
As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of computer systems have emerged. One of the new categories of computer systems is the “palmtop” computer system. A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and can be “palm-sized.” Most palmtop computer systems are used to implement various Personal Information Management (PIM) applications such as an address book, a daily organizer and electronic notepads, to name a few.
Some palmtop computers use hard buttons to initiate commonly used functions. The term “hard buttons” covers actual physical buttons or keys that can be pressed by a user. The term “hard buttons” is used primarily to distinguish actual physical buttons that can be pressed from “soft buttons,” or software implemented buttons that are formed using a touch screen and a display of an image or icon that resembles a button. There is no requirement that hard buttons be hard in the physical sense of the word. In fact many hard buttons are formed of soft plastic. Because of the limited amount of surface area on the top of a palmtop computer, only a few hard buttons are used. The number of hard buttons is typically limited to prevent confusion and to make the palmtop computer easy to use.
As usage of palmtop computers has expanded, so has the need to convey information to a user. More particularly, basic functions such as date book function, address book function, to-do function, and memo function have grown in richness and complexity as new features are added. Therefore, there is a need to convey additional information to the user relating to these functions. In addition, as new functionality is added, (e.g., new games and new uses for the existing hard buttons) there is a need to convey information to a user that relates to the new functionality.
The information conveyed to the user must be easily integrated into the existing palmtop design and must be in a format that is easily understood by a user. The easiest way to convey information to the user in a manner that is easily integrated into the existing palmtop design is to program additional displays of graphical images or text on the display screen. However, the display screen of a palmtop computer is quite small. Therefore, it is difficult to add new images and/or text to existing displays in order to convey additional information to a user. Moreover, when new images and/or text are added to existing displays, the resulting display is often too cluttered with information to effectively convey information to the user. More particularly, because so much information is presented on the display, it is difficult for the user to comprehend the newly added information.
What is needed is a method and apparatus that can convey information to a user of a palmtop computer which is easily understood by the user. In addition, a method and apparatus is needed that meets the above need and that is easily integrated into existing palmtop computer designs. The present invention meets the above needs.